ON RUGBY:SOMEWHAT SURPRISINGLY, the Lions squad are amid the madding throngs and the media in their hotel near the trendy waterfront area of Cape Town, writes GERRY THORNLEY

Perhaps it’s all part of the restoration of old values. Having them applauded through the foyer before and after training sessions, or posing for photographs and autographing jerseys is a deliberate ploy to avoid their ivory tower approach of four years before.

Alas, Table Mountain is scarcely visible and with more of the rains of the last two days forecast for the remainder of their stay here, that’s unlikely to change. The squad only move to Pretoria and the high veldt on Friday, the theory being that the best way to acclimate to altitude is either to arrive less than two days before or over a week in advance. By then, the make-up of the Test side will have been divulged – it will be named on Thursday.

The first Test defeat and the Monday weather appeared to add to the gloom, and this evening also affords the opportunity to give everyone a lift. It must be a testing, even tetchy time for the squad. Many of those playing at Newlands this evening know full well that it could be the last time they pull on a Lions shirt.

Admitting that he was drinking at the “last chance saloon”, Shane Williams put it best when, after admitting that he’d been disappointed with the way he’s played on this tour and that he hasn’t made the Test team, also conceded that “if I don’t play as well as I can it will be my last game of the tour, and, at my age, my last game for the Lions”.

The majority of tonight’s line-up fall into that category.

It is a sobering thought for all of them, and must have them privately reading through today’s selection to read the tea leaves. Conceivably, there could be five changes from last Saturday’s line-up, depending on the events of this evening, and there have already been some large clues as to where they might be.

The selection of Lee Mears and Phil Vickery on the bench, along with Matthew Rees and Adam Jones being excused duty, reaffirms that the latter two will thus be promoted to the starting line-up in an all-Welsh frontrow.

A striking feature of this tour has been how national interests seem to infiltrate the media’s thinking on so many selection issues, and this column is perhaps as guilty as any. The absence of Rory Best from the squad, even as a late call-up for the stricken Jerry Flannery, seems all the more puzzling. As a further aside, it seems curious in the extreme that Wasps and England prop Tim Payne was preferred to Marcus Horan, a two-time Heineken Cup and Grand Slam winner, over the weekend.

The Lions must also be considering beefing up the pack with a more recognised enforcer/front-of-the-line foil for Paul O’Connell than Alun-Wyn Jones. If so, then the presence on the bench of the Wasps and England bulwark Simon Shaw suggests he may somehow have moved above Donncha O’Callaghan in the pecking order.

The latter, at 30, is five years younger than Shaw and is also a recent two-time Heineken Cup and Grand Slam winner. He’s hardly any slouch when it comes to providing grunt and grind at ruck and maul time. Perhaps though, it’s still all to play for – including Nathan Hines.

One can maybe read too much into the backrow selection, where the most viable alternative to last Saturday’s combination would be to promote Martyn Williams, although as with all of tonight’s team, a proverbial stormer could well mean a promotion.

This should apply to Ronan O’Gara too. The argument for going with this experienced, proven winner grows by the game, and as the Lions near the point of no return, time is rapidly running out. He has a superior win-loss ratio to Stephen Jones this season, and a better place-kicking ratio to the Welshman. Jones has been moving the line well but it’s not as if O’Gara is trying to replace Dan Carter or Matt Giteau here.

O’Gara is an obvious candidate to captain the team tonight, although Ian McGeechan’s rationale for choosing him sounded dangerously like a sop, and it could even be that the ground is now being prepared for the promotion of James Hook to the bench at O’Gara’s expense for reasons of versatility and his longer range at altitude.

More encouragingly for the Munster and Ireland outhalf, who has captained both his province and country in latter years, is that McGeechan also maintained that O’Gara needed game time. Given he’s played just one and a bit matches since scoring 22 points in the tour opener against the Royal XV, that is true, and as Hook was only passed fit to take a place on the bench by an independent neurosurgeon yesterday, perhaps they weren’t keen to rush him back. One suspects they’re also going to stick with Jones.

The midfield looks nailed on, regardless of events in Newlands, but given their finishing let them down last Saturday, one strongly suspects Ugo Monye’s place is up for grabs, with Shane Williams and Luke Fitzgerald afforded a huge opportunity this evening.

Perhaps in that order too, for the impression remains that the Lions management would dearly love to see Williams suddenly find his form.

Fitzgerald was given the short straw at inside centre in his belated appearance in game three against the Cheetahs, and has shown a tendency to over-run the pass. His kicking game wasn’t great against the South Kings, but if he repeats his sharp performance against the Sharks he has every chance.

Whereas Monye is on the bench, Rob Kearney’s exclusion from the 22 here strongly hints that he is being kept back for a start next Saturday, most probably as a direct replacement for Lee Byrne amid fears that his strained foot will rule him out. Were Fitzgerald to force his way in that could mean an Irish back three outside Brian O’Driscoll.

Green-tinged bias or fair enough? The picture will be clearer after tonight’s game.